Tag: crime

Hate crime is the initial focus of a new series of public meetings which aim to tackle difficult issues in our community.
Taking place on 21 July, the hate crime event is part of the Council’s wider ‘It’s Time to Talk’ campaign which aims to empower residents and community leaders to talk about difficult issues and work together with the authorities to tackle them. Important challenges such as hate crime, child sexual exploitation, extremism, gang culture, domestic abuse and harmful practices are all expected to be discussed at separate events throughout the year.

The event on 21 July has a number of high-profile speakers attending, including Dr Stevie-Jade Hardy – Centre for Hate Studies, Stephen Brooks MBE – Coordinator of the Disabled Hate Crime Network and special guest keynote speaker – creative pioneer Samuell Benta. Topics such as what exactly a hate crime is, how big the problem is in Brent and the role of social media in the context of hate crime, will be discussed.

I’ve had a few residents contact me living around Dollis Hill tube station and in the Neasden area who have told me about their recent experiences being a victim of gold chain snatching.

I am urging residents who are victim of this crime to first of all make sure the any incident or even attempted incident is reported. This will give the police the intelligence they need to make sure they are patrolling the right areas at the right time.

In the past, such an approach has led to success in actually catching the culprits LINK . However, Police for now rely on greater information and intelligence as there is less of them in the Dudden Hill Safer Neighbourhood Team.

I have raised the matter with the local Ward sergeant and I have visibly already seen Police around patrolling at times that people told me these incidents happened in one of the locations at least.

Crime and anti-social behaviour is by far the biggest issue in Dudden Hill on the doorstep. The situation is not helped by the cuts in our local dedicated Safer Neighbourhood Team.

In 2011/2012, we invested £2,449 in the Safer Neighbourhood Team to provide crime reasurance and prevention equipment.

In addition £3,816was provided to Elders Voice who provided home security improvements and advice to vulnerable residents aged over 60. £180 worth of safety equipment was also funded to the newly formed Ashcombe Park Neighbourhood Watch.

With the news that we are officially in a double-dip recession period LINK it is becoming clearer that the Tory Liberal economic policies are fundamentally flawed. Yes, they inherited a large deficit, but they also inherited a growing economy.

Slashing jobs in the public sector on the unsubstantiated claim and risk that jobs will miraculously appear in the private sector to make up for the rise in unemployment in the public sector

Increasing VAT which has an impact on a business’ take home profits, meaning that they have less profit available to employ people and expand

The VAT rise also impacts on consumer spending and disincentivises businesses

Scrapping the Future Jobs Fund which equips young people to be work ready. Indeed the long term impact of this has also been ignored by the Tory Liberals. Even if there is a lack of employment opportunities in the country, it is important that these schemes are invested in so that people are equipped with the skills they need and are work ready for when the economy does recover and there are jobs for people to go into.

Unemployment should never be a price worth paying. The immediate and long-term impact of worklessness is far worse than pursuing an aim to get rid of the deficit in four years. The Tory Liberal Government have made this their priority and ignored the impact that this damaging course has on ordinary people.

The VAT rise also had a detrimental impact on inflation. Naturally, it costs more to buy products because there is more tax paid on spending money. This leaves less disposable income to the individual and what’s more, wages are not going up with inflation. People are being squeezed with higher costs and lower income.

This brings me to my final point on the deficit, which has increased under this Tory Liberal administration – LINK

Growth is a key component to tackle the deficit. Without economic growth, it becomes difficult to address the deficit. This has been the Tory Liberal Coalition’s main failure. There is the issue of the Eurozone crisis that the right wing Government will point to. However, slashing public sector jobs with a front loaded approach and the VAT rise are policies of the Government’s own making.

The Tories are out of touch with ordinary people and their stance on the 50% tax rate at this very moment in time is testament to that. The Liberals aren’t bothered about issues such as employment, jobs, the economy, crime and the NHS – this is proven with how easily they flipped their position on these what I consider core issues. They are far more concerned with the House of Lords and the electoral system and appear more principled on these issues than ones that have a more profound impact on people.

The Dudden Hill Safer Neighbourhood Team will be holding a youth forum tonight 16th August 2011 at 1700 in the College of North West London. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the recent disorder in London and to listen to the thoughts of young people. If you know anyone aged 14 – 22 years who would like to attend please pass on this link to them.

A local resident has raised the issue of vans that seem to be coming on to this road and acting suspiciously. They have been alleged to be keeping an eye on resident’s properties and there have been issues of items being taken from people’s cars. If you see any suspicious activity, do not hesitate to call 999. In the meantime, I have requested for the local police team to increase their patrol activity on this road.

Just got a call from BBC London TV. They are running a feature on the increase of gold chain snatching in Brent. If any victims of this crime are available to talk to them today, send me an email on cllr.krupesh.hirani@brent.gov.uk or call 07886939295.

Brent Metropolitan Police are concerned about the rising number of gold chain thefts in the borough.

Gold prices are currently higher than ever before, with a number of establishments advertising cash for gold. This has made gold more attractive to thieves than ever.

Please be mindful of this and keep your jewellery secure to prevent opportunities for thieves to operate. Keep expensive jewellery out of view when walking around the borough. Some thieves have snatched gold chains from around the necks of female victims whilst walking along the street or shopping for example.

Burglaries of gold jewellery also tend to increase during the summer months as people go away on holidays. Please consider strengthening your home security arrangements should you store any jewellery at home.

Ensure you have photographs of your valuable pieces to help police track any stolen items in the event of a theft.

Disclaimer

The content on this site is edited, managed and controlled by Councillor Krupesh Hirani. They are not representative of any associated organisations unless specified. No public funds have been used for this website.
Promoted by Honor Cohen, on behalf of Brent Labour Party, both at Pavitt Hall, Union Road, Wembley, HA0 4AU